Touchback Rules Fuel Surge in NFL Late-Game Comebacks — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Shane Steichen's Colts won on a 53-yard Spencer Shrader field goal with 21 seconds left in Week 3 after running the ball repeatedly despite trailing by one with 1:48 remaining—Steichen conceded to the "hurry up ... kinda" clock management.
- The Dallas Cowboys lost 34-31 to the Ravens in Brazil on Sept. 27 after Brandon Aubrey's tying kickoff produced a touchback, handing Lamar Jackson the ball at the 35; Jackson hit Zay Flowers for 27 yards and Tyler Loop drilled a 56-yard game-winner at the buzzer.
- Touchback rule changes in 2024 and 2025 moved post-touchback drive starts from the 25-yard line to the 35, and final-minute drives ending in scoring attempts are up more than 50% versus the prior 10 seasons, per the Elias Sports Bureau.
- Fifty-plus-yard field goal attempts climbed from 168 in 2020 to 266 in 2025 and are pacing toward 300+ this season, with kickers converting at 67.7% since the K-ball changes versus 64.9% in the previous five seasons.
- Three of the seven longest field goals in NFL history have come since the start of the 2025 season, including Jacksonville's Cam Little hitting a record 68-yarder last year.
- A 2025 K-ball rule change lets teams prepare kicking balls all week with full equipment access—reversing the league's earlier 60-minute restriction—and coaches Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay credit it with amplifying late-game kicking chaos.
- Game-winning drives in the final two minutes of regulation totaled 49 in 2025, the most since 2000, and 11 such drives through four weeks of 2026 put this season on pace to match or exceed that total.
Why it matters: Two stacked rule changes—touchbacks moving 10 yards upfield and full-week K-ball preparation—have flipped two-minute drill math league-wide, producing a record 49 game-winning drives in the final two minutes last year and the most 60-yard field goals in a season in NFL history. Coaches who built careers on clock-killing conservatism now face outcomes decided by 56-yard kicks their predecessors never considered.
Ask SkimNews
